Origami Expert
by Falcongod
Summary: Beastboy tries to impress Raven with one of his favorite hobbies.


"Hey, Raven. What'cha reading?"  
"A thousand paper cranes. It is elementary, but it's still a nice story."  
Beastboy smiled. He loved it when he got opportunities to show off.  
"I bet you didn't know this, but I'm quite good at origami. I even know how to make a paper crane!"  
"I'm not surprised." said Raven as she licked her finger to turn the page. "An origami crane is easy to make."  
Beastboy's smile faded. It seemed impossible that she could ignore this 'triumph' of his so easily.  
"Well I also now to make TONS of other stuff too. I only mentioned the paper crane because of your book. I can make every animal I can turn into and more!"  
Still, Raven was more engrossed by the picture book than Beastboy's accomplishments.  
"Good for you, but you should know that ALL origami is pretty easy."  
Beastboy couldn't believe his ears.  
"In that case, you obviously haven't seen many types of origami because some designs can get pretty complex."  
Finally, Raven lowered her book and focused her attention on Beastboy.  
"Maybe for you, but every kind of origami is mere child's play to me."  
"Oh yeah! Well, I'll show you! I'll make the coolest origami design ever! Then you'll see how awesome origami can be!"  
Tired of yelling and completely red in the face, Beastboy stomped out of the room.

* * *

"Well, uh I um... I see what you were talking about now. It totally looks like you put a lot of effort into this. What's it supposed to be? A dying owl?"  
Beastboy was cherry red with humility. His plan was to get up early and make an origami sculpture that would knock the socks off Raven.  
Unfortunately, Raven decided that she wanted to have her tea earlier that morning. So when she walked into the room, all she saw was Beastboy's half-finished attempt.  
To make matters even worse, she had walked in right after Beastboy started screwing up.  
Before Beastboy, could hide the paper from view, Raven insisted on seeing the 'coolest origami design ever'.  
"Oh shut up! And it's a dragon for your information."  
Beastboy turned to face the wall and muttered this acceptance of defeat.  
"It didn't turn out that well. I was doing good at first, but then I got bored and started rushing. I guess I got a little sloppy."  
Beastboy spun back around to look Raven in the eye. He raised his voice a little and said.  
"The design was faulty though! Halfway through the body collapsed upon itself."  
"Who made the design?" asked Raven smugly. "Beause I don't remember seeing anything like this before."  
"I did." admitted Beastboy. Once again he turned his gaze upon the wall.  
Raven began to feel guilty for causing Beastboy to sulk in the corner. She tried finding a way to comfort him.  
"Don't take it so hard. Detailed dragons are relatively difficult in terms of origami folding. You must be really skilled to have even made it this far."  
Raven floated over to Beastboy and debated whether or not to put her arm on his shoulder.  
"Stop trying to sound SO superior. I'd like to see you do any better. I bet YOU couldn't make a dragon either."  
Raven decided that Beastboy was better off comforting himself, and retreated away from her friend.  
"I probably couldn't."  
"What? Are you scared that you'll do even worse than me?"  
"Not at all, I'm just haven't been fond of dragons ever since Malchior."  
Suddenly livening up again, Beastboy chased Raven across the room yelling, "What kind, of an excuse is that? You just know that you could never make any origami as difficult as this."  
Utterly annoyed, Raven said.  
"Fine, if it'll make you leave me alone. I will create something. A rattlesnake perhaps."  
No sooner did Raven say this, did she grab a piece of Beastboy's origami paper. Measuring three feet by two feet, the paper was already difficult to manipulate.  
The fact that it was the thickness of construction paper instead printer paper only made the folding it more difficult,  
but it was all necessary to create and support the structure Raven wanted to form. Instantly, Raven used her powers to fold the paper into grid-like pattern.  
With nothing more than the raising of an eyebrow, the paper folded itself into seemingly impossible shapes. Beastboy stared in disbelief as the paper gained a scaly structure.  
He alternating his gaze between the growing smirk on Raven's face and the paper which was transforming before his very eyes.  
The darkly animated paper stretched out, curled up, then finally settled down as a rattlesnake ready to strike.  
Complete with a rattle on its tail and an intricate hissing tongue, it truly was a sight to behold.  
"What do you think?" Asked Raven with a hint of superiority in her voice.  
"That's completely unfair!" Shouted Beastboy, unable to control his violent temper. "That's cheating and you know it! I told you to outdo my origami, not show off your voodoo magic!"  
"I did outdo your origami though. So what if I used my powers? I could've done it all by hand, but this way was a lot less time consuming. What's the difference?"  
"The difference is that I spent lots of time learning and practicing this. Then all of a sudden you rush in and use this cheap trick!"  
By now, Beastboy's shouts could be heard throughout the tower, so all knew that he must be conversing with Raven. Though they were amazed that he had woken up so early.  
"I am sorry that it took you years to accomplish what I mastered in days. I really am. But there's no reason to get mad at me simply because I'm better than you.  
If you didn't want anyone to be better than you, then you shouldn't have asked me to try."  
"Oh yeah? You want to know what I think about that?"  
Beastboy suddenly ceased his screaming. He froze, like a deer in the headlights, for he saw a dark aura pulsating around Raven accompanied by her intimidating glare.  
"I can bear this cacophony no longer. If you would be so kind as to quiet down, I wish to drink my tea undisturbed."

* * *

Hours later, Beastboy was still sitting in that room, fiddling with the origami paper.  
"Still working on that dragon, I see."  
Beastboy looked up to see Raven entering the room.  
"Go away, I'm busy." grumbled Beastboy.  
Raven timidly walked over to Beastboy and hovered over him, observing his work. After a few minutes of watching him work in silence, she said.  
"It would be easier if you kept the mountain folds creased while you make the valley folds."  
Beastboy paused for a moment. Apparently in deep contemplation, but Raven was quite certain that not much intense thinking could be done by Beastboy.  
Sure enough, Beastboy's true intelligence managed to show itself in his response.  
"I knew that."  
Much to Raven's satisfaction, Beastboy immediately switched over to Raven's proposed method.  
Raven now felt comfortable enough to plop down next Beastboy on the couch.  
"Listen, Beastboy. About earlier..."  
But Beastboy's thoughts were still elsewhere.  
"Thanks for the great advice Raven, now how am I supposed to make the final crease in this section?"  
Raven leaned forward and examined Beastboy's progress on the dragon.  
"It doesn't matter, you should be pleating the other folds and leave that spot alone until you make the wings."  
Beastboy shook his head.  
"If I do that then I'll never be able to form the legs."  
"That's because you're doing things in the wrong order. For the design you're making, the legs should be formed well before the wings."  
Beastboy thought about this for a moment.  
"What if I try folding the middle part like this instead?"  
Beastboy showed Raven what he intended to do.  
"Could you forget about that for a second? About what I said to you earlier..."  
"Don't worry about it."  
After saying this, Beastboy once again showed Raven the folds he intended to make.  
"I still deserve to give you an apology."  
"It's fine. Tell me what you think about this."  
Beastboy scooted closer to Raven and preformed the fold for her to see.  
"That might work, but then you'll have to make the wings larger in proportion."  
"You really think it's a good idea?"  
Raven herself couldn't believe that Beastboy had thought up of something so intuitive, but she had to admit it was quite genius.  
"It's pretty good. You're better at this than I first thought."  
Beastboy's face lit up and he started folding with more speed and enthusiasm.  
"Careful, you tend to make mistakes if you fold too fast." Warned Raven.  
"I am being careful. I'm not gonna screw up twice for the same reason." replied Beastboy.  
"You sure have cheered up fast." remarked Raven.  
"No point in being mad at you for being better as long as you're helping me out. That reminds me of this great joke. Uh...How did it go again?"  
Raven saw a tiny window of opportunity, before she was forced to hear Beastboy's joke.  
"I'm only going to help you if you don't tell jokes."  
Beastboy's face drooped down like a puppy dog's. In fact, he even transformed into a bloodhound for added emphasis.  
"But I'd be telling the jokes to laugh with you instead of at you." Whined Beastboy.  
"I don't care. No jokes." Stated Raven coldly.  
However, even Raven's firm stance on the matter couldn't stop Beastboy from raising one last objection.  
"But!"  
"No. Do you want me to help you or or not?"  
"Fine, but then you have to nice to me while giving me your advice."  
For once, the playful attitude in Beastboy's voice forced Raven to stifle a smile instead of a groan.  
"Fair enough."


End file.
